Reading Ezekiel 8 in the ESV I came across verse 17 today and was puzzled by phrase there:

Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose.

The NLT reads:

Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these detestable sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and provoking my anger?

What convolutes the situation is that the ESV gives the marginal reading branch to my nose.

Is this a Hebrew idiom? What does it mean? Does it, or a similar expression, occur elsewhere in Scripture? or elsewhere in Ancient Middle Eastern literature? Has the NLT captured the sense of the idiom?

4 Answers
4

8:17. "branch to the nose." There is an Akkadian expression (laban appi) that refers to a gesture of humility used to come contritely before deity with a petition. When this act is portrayed in art, the worshiper has his hand positioned in front of his nose and mouth, and is sometimes shown with a short cylindrical object in his hand. From the Sumerian tale called Gilgamesh in the Land of the Living there is some evidence that what is held is a small branch cut off a living tree. This would suggest that in Ezekiel the people are putting on a show of humility. It must be admitted, however, that these connections are very hazy and the significance may lie somewhere else entirely.

As the verses before this talk about how the Hebrews are mixing neighboring religions with true worship (mounrning for Tammuz, idols in the temple courtyard, sun worship), I think the problem is two fold:

This is an act of syncretism--the mixing of elements from several religions.

They don't mean it.

The second is the heart of the problem. Crocodile tears for sins would be one way to understand the action. From the actions that follow the acts of contrition, it can be seen that they don't mean it. They aren't truly repenting. It would be like a catholic saying penance prayers and then turning around doing the same thing again.

Putting a branch to God's nose would likely be related to the kindling of God's nostrils. This expression is only used against a whole people when the crime is idolatry, with the exception of the crime of oppressing widows. James Jordan comments on this:

“This is jealousy language. Potiphar’s nostrils were kindled when he
suspected Joseph of attempting to rape his wife (Gen. 39:19). The
expression occurs four times in Exodus 32 (vv. 10, 11, 19, 22), as God
responds to the spiritual adultery of His people...

God, of course, is a consuming fire (Heb. 12: 29), and He manifests
His fiery judgment in the flaming sword of the cherubim (Gen. 3:24;
Lev. 10:2; etc.), in the fire of sacrifice on the altar, in the lake
of fire, and so forth. The particular burning anger of jealousy,
however, is pointed to in this expression. God jealously guards His
Bride. His nostrils flared against Moses when Moses did not want to
deliver Israel (Ex. 4:14). His nostrils burned against Aaron and
Miriam when they attacked the privileges of Moses (Num. 12:9). God’s
burning anger at Balaam (Num. 22:22) relates to Balaam’s intention of
cursing God’s Bride, which in time he succeeded in doing (Num. 25;
31:16).

This leads us to the observation that the widow in Israel was a type
of the bride of Adam, whose husband God had killed for his sin. It was
needful for a younger brother, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, to take
her as His wife. This widow typology is particularly prominent in the
book of Ruth and in the theology of Luke (Luke 2:37; 4:25f.; 7:12).
The widow is under the special protection of the Lord, until He comes
to claim her as His own.”

I'm not sure the answer is that complicated. Haven't we all seen the irreverent insult in which one places the tip of their thumb on their nose, extending and waving their fingers like a branch blowing in the wind? The passage serves to futher describe the mockery that has provoked God to anger. The NLT version is the better translation for this passage. The amazing thing is how humanity manages to perpetuate so many customs, some even over many millenia.